Improving Your Home On A Budget

by Max Birkin for House of Henley

‘Home Improvements’ is a broad term. It encompasses anything from scattering cushions across a sofa to completely gutting and renovating a property. Often, making changes to our homes feels rather daunting, either for reasons of cost or for fear of disruption, or simply because picking apart familiar and welcoming surroundings feels somewhat sacrilegious. We might lay some of the blame for this at Kevin McCloud’s door – the mud, sweat and tears involved in any Grand Designs project are never fully washed away by an inspiring closing speech and a tinkling theme tune – but not all ‘Home Improvements’ involve excavating a three-storey basement with lap pool and wine cellar. In fact, much can be achieved by making smaller but no less effective changes. In these uncertain times, during which we have spent (and look set to spend) more and more time in our homes, it is especially important to consider improvements that offer maximum effect at a lower cost and with minimal disruption. The following ideas will help you consider what it is that your home needs, and how this might be achieved without huge cost or hassle. As Mr McCloud once summed up, our homes ought to “hum” with positive energy. If yours doesn’t, change it.

Kitchen cupboard fronts and worktops

Picture from Naked Doors

The kitchen is invariably described as ‘the heart of the home’. Whether you’ve been using it to bake sourdough or mix quarantinis, you may have decided you aren’t entirely happy with it. The drastic solution is to call in Tom Howley, Smallbone or Plain English and have a beautiful, bespoke kitchen built to suit your needs. Although, after adding heritage oak larder cupboards, German steam ovens and hand-cut marble worktops you’ll be lucky to have change left from £100,000. Instead, consider cheating – change your cupboard doors and handles, fit a new worktop and invest in attractive taps. There are numerous companies that offer bespoke door fronts in a range of contemporary or shaker styles (Naked Doors is the one to go to for diverse styles and choice), and if you trust yourself around a power drill, this is a DIY fitting job. Granite or marble worktops are always going to be pricey. However, if you’re prepared to keep up with the maintenance, then a wooden surface offers a warmer finish at a lower price. Further down the ladder, laminate worksurfaces have moved on from the days of fibreboard and peeling plastic, and Magnet Trade offers some great designs that look brilliant and really rather convincing.

Redecorate halls and corridors

Picture from Andrew Jonathan Design

The passage of children, furry friends, visitors or even our own feet naturally leads to the denigration of high-traffic areas such as halls and stairways. Consider having the walls of these spaces painted, and any woodwork or cornicing touched up. It is advisable to hire a professional, especially if you have a high ceiling or double-height stairways, but also because there is little more demoralising and exhausting than painting a wall. Leave it to someone with experience – that way, you won’t be forever noticing little missed areas or errant brush strokes. Steer away from super matt finishes or heritage brands and choose paint from a company such as Dulux, whose Easycare range of paints offer a more durable finish tailored to busy homes. This is also a chance to pick a colour that makes you love these more functionary spaces a little more; it is better to go bold and darker in hue – Cornforth White may look stunning, but it takes one grubby paw (or hand) to ruin the finish, and whilst a bright yellow may not work in your bedroom, it can make a tired vestibule sing.

Update the bathroom

Picture from CCASA Architects

Bathrooms and W.C.s are often relegated to purely functional and utilitarian spaces, despite the fact that we use them multiple times a day. Shampoo bottles crowd the sides of the bath, the grouting around tiles discolours, and these rooms quickly become unappealing. On top of this, the bathroom fixtures and fittings likely came with the house (and as long as they aren’t avocado-coloured, you probably kept them), so it is tempting to ignore bathrooms and spend money on more ‘important’ rooms – bedrooms, sitting rooms, kitchens. This is a mistake. You do not have to live with someone else’s tiling choices. First, get a new sink with built-in vanity unit fitted to store all those lotions and potions (at the cheaper end of the market, IKEA has some stylish contemporary vanities from just £93) then get your plumber to fit a new showerhead, too; your morning routine will be vastly improved by a thorough soaking courtesy of a waterfall or power shower. If your wallet hasn’t taken too much of a beating, then get the tiling done too – make sure you choose a style in a colour that you love but know you can live with for a long time. Millennial-pink hexagonal tiles may be a fun choice now, but in ten years’ time these may well be the new avocado-green bathroom suite, and you’ll wish you settled upon metro tiles in a more restrained hue.

Replace your carpets

Picture from House & Garden

Unless your home is blessed with beautiful floorboards, stone floors or encaustic tiles, chances are you have wall-to-wall carpet. As long as you have renovated since the 80s, it’s probably cream and therefore likely to be a little bit worn. It’s a big job, but if you can afford it, replacing the carpet in all of your rooms will lift every space instantly. Go for a bold runner on your stairs if you dare (this can really pep up a space, and the relatively small floor coverage means you won’t get headaches from bright stripes or House of Hackney-inspired fauna pattern), and keep it simple with neutral tones in a hard-wearing material in bedrooms and sitting rooms. By way of warning, updating your carpet does sometimes throw the rest of the room into relief – you may find yourself repainting skirting boards, then changing wall colours, reupholstering armchairs… If this vicious cycle of positive home improvement fills you with dread, or if you can’t afford to outfit the whole house in freshly woven wool, get your existing carpets professionally cleaned to fluff up the fibres and remove any stains from Yuletide drink spills. It sounds dull, but your home will feel cleaner, look smarter and you will have money left over for a nice bottle of white wine to enjoy (clear liquids only now, please).

Every little helps

It’s the little things that count, even more so in these strange times. If new kitchen fronts or glossy tiling is out of your budget for now, or if you are renting your home, then tackle something as minor as moving your sofa to the opposite wall – you might discover that it completely changes the flow of the room, and refreshes your space. Similarly, art is perhaps the most versatile of all home improvements as it doesn’t have to be bought at a Christie’s auction, and you can take it with you if you move. Prints, maps, originals from local artists (try Etsy) or even posters are all a cheap and effective way of cheering up any space, and as long as these are framed – ideally with a generous white border – they won’t make the room look like a student digs.

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